Ryan Spadola tears up NFL combine

The inarguable legacy that Ryan Spadola has left at Lehigh appears to be just the beginning of
big things to come for the All-American wide receiver. His invitation to the NFL
Scouting Combine to play on a stage in front of professional scouts was only
the most recent achievement that Spadola enjoyed during the twilight of his
collegiate career.

Spadola, who broke single-season records for both catches
and yardage during his junior year, placed second all-time on those same lists
within Lehigh's archives when the tallies finally ended late in 2012. During
his Lehigh playing days, he tallied 232 catches for a total of 3,611 yards,
falling just shy of breaking the all-time records in both categories.

It seems only logical, then, that Spadola would consider
going on to play professional football.

"After my sophomore season in 2010, [head coach Andy Coen] sat me down to talk about
stats and essentially grade my performance," Spadola said. Coen, who sits down
with his players individually to develop his expectations, planted the seeds of
going pro in Spadola's mind.

"He told me that I was a heck of a ball player with a lot of
talent," Spadola said. Coen told him that if he continued to work at things, he
could even consider playing football for a living.

"Then I continued to work hard and help the team accumulate
wins, and now I'm in this current spot where I have a lot of opportunities."

The current spot that Spadola referred to is his current
national stage, participating in the NFL combine. Before the combine he spent
months training in order to boost his strength and shave fractions of seconds
off agility performances.

While he was at the camp, though, the former Mountain Hawk
roomed with Rodney Smith, a wide
receiver from Florida State University. While Spadola said that not a lot of
other players knew about Lehigh, people didn't necessarily look down on him
despite not coming from a bigger school.

Despite his strong results, the training is paying off in
more ways than the obvious.

"[The process has] become about publicity through training,"
Spadola said. "Obviously training is the most important thing, and great
coaching has been helping me improve my game."

When Spadola met up with the nation's collegiate best to
play in the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game on Feb. 2, he impressed the
audience with his performance, despite his small-school background.

"The toughest thing about coming from Lehigh, or any smaller
school, is that in the scouts' eyes and the players' minds there's always a
little bit of doubt on whether you can really play at the level with the other
guys," Spadola said.

His friends and family who watched the game on television,
though, said that Spadola looked good matching up against other superstar
college athletes.

At the combine, which invited only the top 40 wide receivers
and the top 300 players in the nation overall, he ran drills publicly with
scouts noting his times. But behind the scenes, he followed a schedule that
included measuring, medical forums, bench tests, weigh-ins and a variety of
other activities which ultimately measured all aspects of physical fitness.

He also went through interviews which included personal
questions about everything from his family and his upbringing, to "board work,"
where he had to attempt to evade a strategically-placed defense on a
whiteboard. In addition, he was tested to attempt to quantify his mental
capacity and problem-solving skills.

Though Lehigh definitely gave him an advantage when it came
to quantitative problem-solving, it was different on the football field when it
came to his skills.

"The hardest thing is getting recognition when you come from
a small school," Spadola added.

But the school hasn't forgotten him, he said, always pushing
words of encouragement his way and checking up with him weekly.

"Pro day is in a week and a half, and I'll be back [at
Lehigh] for that," Spadola said. "For pro day, there are a few drills that I
might redo depending on how the weather is that day.

"I want to focus on running routes, getting cleaner out of
my breaks and making sure that I'm getting separation from defensive players."

He added that his former Lehigh coach Jason Miran has reached out to him, asking how the school should
prepare for his return and what he wants set up for his drills. But Spadola
wasn't surprised to hear from the Lehigh community when they supported his
recent success.

"The bond with the coaches and the players is so strong;
it's like a family bond," he said.

Having the support of his team helped Spadola when he had to
make one of the toughest decisions of his academic and athletic career at the
end of last semester.

"After I was offered an invitation to the [NFL] Combine, I
met with my coaches, with school administrators and with my department faculty
to see what I should do," Spadola said. "We decided that I could take a leave
of absence. It's always been a dream of mine to play pro football.

"I had to put everything aside, focus, and know that I gave
it my all to see if I could make it happen. For the time being, I had to put
all my eggs in one basket. They all supported me and I'm lucky that I had that
support."

Spadola said that he can go back to Lehigh to finish his
degree in the future if necessary, but that he thinks that this is likely the
only chance he'll have to chase the dream of playing pro football.

For now, he has to take his shot at
the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he's received with the chance at being
potentially drafted to an NFL team.

"I'm at a solid position now [with my skills], but obviously
I want to continue to get better," he said.

And if Spadola gets the chance to go pro, he thinks that
those skills could only continue to improve.

He was initially predicted to be drafted on day three of the
NFL draft, but now may have boosted his draft status after his performance.

"Ideally, I want to be drafted as high as possible so that I
can make a 53-man roster," he said. "I'd love to go anywhere where that could happen,
preferably somewhere that needs wide receivers, obviously.

"But along with that, I want to go somewhere where there's
an established team of veterans that I could learn from. A team like the Pats
or the Broncos, they have great, established quarterbacks and offensive lines
and I feel like I could really get to learn a lot from their veteran players."

So while Spadola has taken off time from academics in search
of his dream, it doesn't appear that he's left the learning mentality behind.

Lehigh will host Spadola once again for his Pro Day on March
12. The NFL Draft, which will determine whether Spadola's dreams of playing pro
ball will come true, will take place April 25-27.